Urban Nature | Olea woodiana in flower | Riverside Road

Olea woodiana Riverside Road; cyclist utilising the nearly completed leisure cycle and walking track, connecting the Bird Park to Ushaka Marine by bicycle.

Olea woodia in flower Riverside Road, opposite the uMngeni River Bird Park.

Lindelani Zuke and Rosemary Harrison attaching a tree label.  Olea has extremely hard wood and in the end we required a drill, the brass screws just snapped when using a hammer.

Urban Nature - trail along the riparian zone, north bank, uMngeni River

Lala Palm, Hyphaene coriacea

I have always admired these awesome indigenous, very KwaZulu-Natal palms.  There are two specimens near the Ellis Park tea room in Romsey Grove, Durban North.  Somewhere in my archive of photographs  I have a picture of a bakkie laden with Lala Palm  leaves heading for market, to make brooms no doubt.  One cannot find a similar broom in other provinces; these brooms are unique to our area.  The leaves are a stunning grey.

Hugh Glenn has written up a great description  http://www.plantzafrica.com/planthij/hyphaencor.htm . Here are a few interesting points from his write up summarised by Rosemary Harrison:

HYPHAENE CORIACEA

English-lala palm or sometimes gingerbread tree/isiZulu-ilala/Afrikaans-waaierpalm.

This palm grows upto 5m tall. It has big fan-shaped leaves. It is relatively slow-growing.

It grows near rivers and is also common in the coastal belt, north of Durban, from Mthunzini, northwards.

The plants flower from November to February. The fruit takes two years to ripen and this can stay on the palm for a further two years, before falling.

Elephants and baboons eat this fruit, and therefore disperse it to various regions. Apparently, in this manner, the fruit can take only a month to germinate. Birds like to nest in these Lala Palms, because it is quite spiny, so detracting the predators.

There is a big craft market, that the fibre of this Palm supports, such as, baskets, mats, etc.

A palm wine is made from the sap and is a source of Vitamin B.

Celtis milbraedii at Sibudu Cave

Celtis milbraedii at Sibudu Cave

A Celtis Mildbraedii clings precariously to the edge at Sibudu Cave, near Tongaat.  Here, perhaps far distant from the next of its species, it marks the point at which enough rain can get past the overhang to sustain plant life.  One wonders if its relative dryness means that the tree is truly ancient.  In the sediments close by, we have traces of at least 80 000 years of human history.

Crispin Hemson

Yellowwood, Podocarpus falcatus, St. Mary's Drive Kloof, with WESSA tree label

Fluted Milkwood, Chrysophyllum viridifolium, umGwinya

About 20 years ago, when I first saw this tree in Pigeon Valley, on the northern side, I thought it was about to fall down, because it had been almost completely hollowed out.  It still stands proudly, after wind and torrential rain.
Crispin Hemson

Welcome to the blog! Celebrate Durban's trees

iziHlahla zeTheku: Durban Celebrates Trees is a project to celebrate our trees, record them, and to encourage commitment to their preservation.

We invite you to take a photo of your favourite tree, give its names (scientific, English, Afrikaans, isiZulu names - at least one of these), take its GIS position if possible, and tell us why you love it, and any other information you would like to appear.  Send your photo and description to mvemvane@gmail.com (Margaret Burger).

This is a project launched on 10th March 2012 by the Durban Branch of WESSA.